Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev tries a cup of Pepsi alongside US Vice President Richard Nixon as Pepsi-Cola CEO Donald Kendall (left) pours samples during the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev tries a cup of Pepsi alongside US Vice President Richard Nixon as Pepsi-Cola CEO Donald Kendall (left) pours samples during the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959.
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The Pepsi navy isn’t a story from the era of Soviet collapse. It’s from the brief moment right before, when the Soviet Union looked likely to survive even though the Cold War had ended. The rusting submarines were one way in which Soviet leaders and Western corporations could establish world peace and a new, post-communist prosperity led by business.
American leaders hoped that exposure to Western business could transform the Soviet Union into a country just like theirs. Pepsi executives influenced U.S. policymakers to gain a major advantage in its rivalry with Coca-Cola. Soviet officials saw the deal as part of a larger strategy of external trade that could help revitalize their creaking economy. In the end, almost nobody got what they wanted.
Nixon: “Yo, this is Pepsi..not Coke”
More [here](https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/27/pepsi-navy-soviet-ussr/?tpcc=recirc_latest062921).
Who’s the vampire in the white hat?
On a related note: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikal_(drink)#:~:text=Baikal%20is%20a%20Russian%20non,lemon%20oil%2C%20licorice%2C%20St](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikal_(drink)#:~:text=Baikal%20is%20a%20Russian%20non,lemon%20oil%2C%20licorice%2C%20St).
“Baikal’s production started in 1969. It was developed as a Soviet counterpart of Coca-Cola. After the beginning of Pepsi Cola production in the USSR in 1973, the formula was revised.”
I’ve actually tried this, and I have to say that it’s pretty good and I’d go as far as saying it’s better than cola or Pepsi. It doesn’t make you hate yourself after you drink it.
Marshal Zhukov counter-attacks with his [white Coca-Cola](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Coke).
Voroshilov (guy on the right), clearly doesn`t approve
Pepsi would go on to have one of the worlds largest navy’s
The greatest weapon of American soft power….Diabetes. Soviets never stood a chance
Nixon’s face waiting to see Khrushchev’s reaction :))
Missed chance to stop by at McDonald’s
Well that probably set soviet-american relations back several decades.
Should of gone with the Royal Crown Dick!
Why was Donald Sutherland there?
And here I thought it was only the Soviets who poisoned their political opponents 😉
No James Cagney in the photo, it’s definitely photoshopped. You just convince me like that, like one, two three, that a Soviet leader would have drunk Coca-Cola during those times.
If he had given hm a Coke…Cold War over
‟Is Pepsi oky?”
“Er … well … it’s an acquired taste mr. Chairman … “
*”So comrade, do you like the taste of Capitalism?” /s*
Its insane what lengths Khrushchev went to distance himself from Stalin.
I’m glad that these carbonated soft drinks never caught on in the Soviet Union. Otherwise the women there would be just as fat as the Yankees are today!
I read “coup” instead of “cup”
Fun fact PepsiCo got all their sugar at rock bottom prices from… CUBA 🇨🇺
Because of slavery and exploitation